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ADDRESS OF WELCOME 



TO 



The Southern Surgical and 
Gynecological Society, 



Delivered at Washington, 



By SANIUEL C. BUSEY, NI. D. 



November 12, 1895. 



A compilation of data relating to the eleemosynary, religious, 

and scientific foundations in the City of Washington, 

and realty of the Government in the 

District of Columbia. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. '. 

Gibson Bkos., Printers and Bookbinders. 

189^. 



Ml 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME, 

By SAMUEL C. BUSEY, M. D. 



Delivered November 12, 1895. 



Mr. President and Memhers of the Southern Surgical and 
Gynecological Association : 

Through the partiality of the distinguished chairman 
of your Committee of Arrangements, I am here to offer the 
fraternal greetings of the medical profession of the District 
of Columbia to you at this first meeting of your associ- 
ation north of the river Potomac. This invasion is the 
expression of that friendship and comity which makes 
kindred of us all, and is significant only in that it is a 
voluntary reunion upon common territory of the citizens 
of a common countr}', who are engaged in a common 
pursuit, characterized by the spirit of Christian benevo- 
lence and philanthropy. 

In one aspect Ave are your guests, invited, by your 
presence here, to participate in the consideration of the 
subjects set forth in the programme, and to co-operate 
with you in promoting the advancement of a science 
which has for its highest aims the amelioration of suffer- 
ing and the saving and prolongation of human life. 

I need not then tell you of the pleasure it gives me to 
bid you welcome to this city of the nation, which I have 
seen grow from its village appointments to the propor- 
tions and grandeur of the nation's metropolis, but I must 



give expression to the cordiality and fraternity which my 
juniors in the practice of medicine in this city have bidden 
me to offer you on this their first and only oppoiiunity to 
congratulate this association on its success and achieve- 
ments in the recent past. 

The population of this city is largely cosmopolitan, and 
more closel}^ representative of the population of the coun- 
try at large than that of any other city, and those of you 
who come from the tropical regions of the South, as well 
as those from the border States along the course of the 
historical line of Mason and Dixon, will find here the 
representative types of congenial manhood and responsive 
hospitality from every section of the national domain, 
mingling and commingling in one homogeneous com- 
munity, irrespective of local and State nativities and pro- 
vincial customs and characteristics, and engaged on equal 
terms in all the relations and pursuits of business, em- 
ployment and social life. There are, of course, cliques, 
coteries, clans, social circles, exclusive factions, gangs and 
cabals of good and evil import, but not banded by State 
and local affinities. But the truth of history compels 
me to add that its representative character would be in- 
complete without such slums as Swampoodle, Murder 
Bay, Hell's Bottom, and Hooker's Division, — localities 
where vice and crime, in all their loathsome hideousuess, 
found domicile and protection, but which are now rapidly 
disappearing before the energy, thrift, and progress of a 
cosmopolitan and laAV-abiding population. 

In a population of two hundred and seventy thousand 
there are one hundred and eighty churches ; one hundred 
and three public school buildings, with an attendance of 
forty-four thousand pupils ; four universities in success- 
ful operation, two more in course of establishment, and 
another in contemplation ; five medical and four law 



schools, with anunally increasing numbers of matricu- 
lates ; five general and two special hospitals, with ac- 
commodation for seven hundred patients ; two foundling 
hospitals, one emergency hospital, and one for incura- 
bles, several public dispensaries, one deaf and dumb 
asylum, and one insane asylum. There are seventy well- 
established charitable and reformatory institutions pro- 
viding for the care of the indigent, helpless, sick, injured, 
and wayward, of which thirty-five do not receive any 
public aid, but have been founded and are supported by 
the munificence of philanthropic citizens and residents of 
the Federal territory. There is not one gambling house 
" known to the authorities," but there are five hundred 
and eighty licensed saloons, — far too many in a population 
so abundantly supplied with eleemosynary, religious, and 
edvicational institutions, which in some measure is due to 
inadequate legislation by Congress. Thus, notwithstand- 
ing our dependence upon a legislature without representa- 
tion, the citizens and private property-holders of the Fed- 
eral territory exhibit most remarkable and creditable 
progress in all those qualities and instrumentalities of en- 
lightened and Christian civilization which contribute so 
much to the well-being of the human race and have made 
this the foremost nation on the globe. 

You must excuse the interpolation, in this connection, 
of the statement that in this District the death-rate has 
gradually diminished in the past fifteen years, and the 
average longevity of decedents has increased. Among 
the whites four years nine months and nineteen days, 
having risen from thirty-two years and three days in 
1881 to thirty-six years nine months and nineteen days 
in 1895 ; and among the colored from twenty years ten 
months and eleven days in 1881 to twenty-five years 
eight months and twenty-seven days in 1895. These fig- 



uies ext'iiiplify the maxim of Prof. Pierce, that " virtue, 
like intellect, tlouhtless tends to longevity." If time per- 
mitted, I might, with equal ]n'ecision, show that this pop- 
ulation is chai-acterized by three elements of strength of 
a people — " longevity, fecundity, and vigor." 

In another aspect you are our guests, and, in behalf of 
the profession and of the community at large, I welcome 
you to the only city in this great and populous country 
wherein each one of you can claim and enjoy the privi- 
leges and immunities vested in common citizenship, in so 
much as each one and all of you, in some measure, hold, in 
common with the many millions of citizens, proprietary 
rights and sovereign power. That you may more fully 
estimate and appreciate the magnitude of such preroga- 
tives, let me tell you that in the area of 69,245 square 
miles covering the territory of the District of Columbia 
the Government owns four thousand two hundred and 
twenty acres of land, exclusive of the streets, avenues, and 
alleys of the city, and property in this cit}' valued at 
$201,711,959, being $10,294,155 in excess of the value of 
private property. To this valuation must be added the 
value of the Government lands lying outside of the limits 
of the city, which comprise three thousand four hundred 
and twenty acres, which, with the improvements thereon, 
are estimated at the low valuation of eight and one-half 
millions of dollars. The aggregate of the Government 
realty in the District of Columbia, including the streets, 
avenues and alleys of the city, but not including the enor- 
mous tract of reclaimed Potomac river Hats, or purchases 
since 1889, is seven thousand eight hundred and twenty- 
six acres of land. 

Note. -Nunil)(U' of iiud area of Government parks and reservations 
under the control of the Chief of Engineers. U. S. A., June 30, 1894 : — 
Total number of reservations. :!fll ; acres, 405.08. 



And now if you will go with me through these streets 
and avenues, you will see these properties represented in 
magnificent public buildings, decorated and improved 

Reservations highly and partially improved, 133 ; acres, 356.39. 

lleservatious nnimproved, 108 ; acres, 48.69. 

President's Park area, 82 aci'es and 9,683 sq. feet. 

Washington Park 

Smithsonian Park 

Henry Park 

Seaton Park 

Seaton Park continued 

Judiciary Square 

Mount Vernon Park 

Franklin Park 

Lafayette Park 

McPlaerson Park 

Farragut Park 

Rawlins Park 

Lincoln Park 

Stanton Park 

Folger Park 

Garfield Park 

Marion Park 

Washington Circle 

Dujiont Circle 

Scott Circle 

Thomas Circle 

Iowa Circle 

Garfield Circle 

To the above must be added the area of 277 triangle and trapezoid 
reservations, making in the aggregate 405.08 acres. The area of the 
streets and avenues in the city is 3,606 acres. 

United States Suburban Property. 

Reservoir near Georgetown 55.86 acres. 

Receiving Reservoir 166.25 

Naval Observatory 70. 

Battle Cemetery 1. 

Howard University Park 11. 

Smith's Spring 1. 

New Reservoir 40.74 

U. S. Military Asylum 495. 

Columbia Institution for Deaf and Dumb 110. 

Reform School 266.84 

St. Elizabeth Asylum 446. 

U. S. Navy Magazine 84.03 

Rock Creek Park 1,515.27 

Zoological Park 166.48 

Suburban property, total 3,420.15 

Streets and avenues in city 3,606. 

Land in city of Washington 799.78 

Total Government land in D. C 7,825.93 



82 acres 


and 9,683 sq. 


78 


22.678 '• 


58 


1,260 " 


14 


37.830 " 


12 


21,902 


6 


19,440 


19 


35,712 " 


2 


27,673 " 


4 


28,590 " 


6 


41,414 " 


1 


29,216 " 


1 


26,216 


1 


30,218 " 


6 


25,284 " 


3 


2,145 " 


1 


39,654 " 


23 


42,691 " 


1 


26,840 " 


1 


36,865 " 


1 


2,722 '• 




7,854 " 




28,352 " 


2 


2,087 " 




6,361 " 



parks and reservations. But this great Government has 
not limited its possessions and expenditures in this Dis- 
trict to the acquisition of realty, the construction of pub- 
lic buildings and improvement of parks, but has been a 
generous though inadequate contributor to the develop- 
ment and advancement of various branches of science, in 
the establishment and support of bureaux and depart- 
ments of science, art, and literature, comprising Architec- 
ture ; Astronomy ; Astro-physics ; Animal Industry, includ- 
ing infectious diseases and pathology of animals, dairy 
investigations, and zoological and biochemic laboratories ; 
Agrostology ; Biology ; Botany ; Bibliography ; Clima- 
tology ; Forestry ; Education ; Entomology ; Ethnology ; 
Hydrography ; Hydrometry ; Hygiene ; Ichthyology ; Inter- 
national Exchanges ; Meteorology ; Mammalogy ; Museum ; 
Law ; Medicine ; Printing and Engraving ; Ornithology ; 
Ordnance ; Vegetable Pathology and Physiology ; Po- 
mology ; Soils and Foods ; Weights and Measures ; Quar- 
antine ; Bacteriology ; Pathology, and Zoology. 

I cannot detain you with a statement in detail of the 
operations of these scientific foundations, not as yet com- 
plete in any department, but steadily progressing towards 
that standard of excellence and usefulness which will, in 
the near future, make the j^olitical home of the nation the 
centre of science, literature, and art. But I can assert 
that in learned and scientific institutions, bureaux, depart- 
ments, and great national libraries, with their corps of 
experts in the various branches of science, this city offers 
opportunities not excelled in any city in this country. 

And now, coming closer to that branch of science which 
most concerns you, I must remind you that the same spirit 



It has not been possible to obtain this information from any one de- 
partment or source, and tlie reports are so conflicting it is hardly possi- 
ble to avoid mistakes. 

This estimate does not include the Maltby, Butler, and new Post-Office 
buildings and grounds. 



which has given impetus to new thought and to new and 
enlarged conceptions of scientific research has established 
in this city a medical library greater in number and value 
of volumes than any similar library in the world, and an 
anatomical and pathological museum unsurpassed in the 
variety of its collection. The publication of the index 
catalogue in connection with this magnificent library will 
contribute more toward the higher education of the medi- 
cal profession than any single act of any nation on the 
face of the globe. Then, too, the Government has estab- 
lished a Museum of Hygiene, a National Quarantine, both 
important adjuncts of preventive medicine, which will con- 
tinue to grow in usefulness to the Government and to the 
people at large. 

These foundations have been developed under the 
fostering care of a munificent Government. It may be 
that it needed these establishments to fulfil its delegated 
functions, and is compelled to secure the services of skilled 
medical men to superintend their proper administration ; 
nevertheless, even admitting this necessity to be the 
primary cause for their foundation, it in no manner impairs 
their value to the profession, and the duty is imposed 
upon us to utilize them for the common good, and to 
widen the scope of such endowments to the end that 
we and the people may realize the full measure of their 
usefulness. 

I solicit your aid and co-operation in our efibrt to secure 
the protection of our people from the horde of impostors 
and charlatans which you have driven from your borders 
by the enactment and enforcement of medical practice 
laws, and which has made the District of Columbia a 
common rendezvous where the most atrocious methods of 
the charlatan and mercenary impositions are openly and 
flagrantly committed to the wrong, injury, and robbery of 
its citizens. You represent the most influential and in- 



telligent class of sutfragists, for whose aid ou the hustings 
and at the polls we plead. 

To state the deplorable condition of this District fully 
and broadly, there are five medical schools and several 
medical societies chartered b}^ acts of Congress, or under 
the general incorporation law, authorized and emjiowered 
to license persons to practice the art and science of 
medicine, without any uniform, and by some without any 
standard of qualification beyond the ability and willing- 
ness of the applicant to pay the required fees, or give 
promissory notes for such payment ; and under the pro- 
visions of the general incorporation law any dozen of 
persons can obtain a charter, upon payment of the fee 
for recording the same, authorizing them as a body cor- 
porate to confer the degree of M. D. at their pleasure and 
will. Such is the status of this Federal territory, which 
is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the highest tribunal 
of legislation in the land, made up of the liepresentatives 
and Senators from forty-one States and Territories, which 
have enacted medical practice laws for the protection 
and welfare of their citizens. Take these facts home with 
you and re-echo them throughout the length and breadth 
of the land, that such criminal neglect, not less disgrace- 
ful and scandalous than the slums of vice, may not con- 
tinue to afflict the citizens of the Federal territory'. 

Pardon, in conclusion, the invocation of one who has 
nearly completed a half century of service in the practice 
of medicine, to assert the highest prerogatives of the 
science of medicine, and by unity of etibrt enforce them 
in the interest of and for the welfare of mankind, in that 
governors, legislative bodies, town councils, and all others 
in authority may come to know in the near future that 
in preventive and remedial medicine trutli and science 
must dominate whim, caprice, charlatanry, and mercenary 
adventure. 



LIBRflRY OF CONGRESS 




